Search for tag: "christianity"

Dr Marian Kelsey answers the age-old question; "Why Study Theology?" with an argument that Biblical Studies is actually far more interesting than Theology! The image used in the thumbnail…

In 1917, at the height of the First World War, F.B. MacNutt edited a collection of 17 essays entitled The Church in the Furnace. These essays were written by Anglican army chaplains who reflected on…

Prof. Richard Bell looks at how the work of Richard Wagner (1813-83), the famous German composer of operas such as The Ring, has been an inspiration for many physicists including Stephen Hawking…

Prof. Richard Bell looks at a work of Richard Wagner (1813-83) that never reached the operatic stage. In the late 1840s, Wagner was planning an opera on the life of Jesus but, while still far…

Prof. Thomas O’Loughlin discusses with Dr Sara Parks the origins of the Christian notion of a ‘gospel’ and how it moved from being a political notion in the Roman Empire, to being a…

Professor Frances Knight introduces the two distance learning MA programmes run by the department: the MA in Church History; and the MA in Systematic and Philosophical Theology. All details in this…

What makes a good liturgy? Many approaches are taken to this question – and it is a question everyone asks, at least implicitly, after every act of participation. In this video Professor Thomas…

2017 marks the five-hundred anniversary of the beginning of the European Reformation. As part of a series of events to commemorate this event which has done so much to share modern Europe and…

Despite the passing of 500 years, the ideas of the Reformation are still exerting their influence on theology today. So argues Dr Simeon Zahl in this video where he notes that while these ideas are…

How has the memory of the Reformation been an important element is the creation of English identity? In this video, Prof. Frances Knight argues that for an older generation – perhaps brought up…

How ever remember the past is related to how we see what is happening in our present. In this video Dr David Gehring – of Nottingham’s Department of History – looks at how our…

The reformers were faced with many challenges, but one that is often forgotten was the need to justify their actions historically. How did it come about that the church needed reform? To what image…

Dr Simeon Zahl explores what are the distinctive characteristics of Protestant theology. In years gone by this would have been expressed as the proposition ‘it is acceptance of the doctrine of…

Famous to the British soldiers of the Great War as ‘Woodbine Willie,’ the Revd G.A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929) is also a great forgotten theologian. In this video, Dr Stuart Bell…

The First World War was the single most important event is shaping modern European society. In this video Dr Stuart Bell discusses how the experience of the war had a long lasting affect on Christian…

The First World War was the single most important event is shaping modern European society. In this video Dr Stuart Bell discusses the experience of one man from Derbyshire in the Great War and how…

The First World War was the single most important event is shaping modern European society. In this video Dr Stuart Bell discusses the myths that grew up about the Great War and religion.

Dealing with the body of someone who has died – generically referred to as ‘disposal’ – is a crucial intersection of social custom, religious practices, human ritual,…

Prof. Frances Knight, an expert on the religious history of the late nineteenth century, examines the religious dimension of the cultural movements we associate with the term ‘Fin de…

Walter Walsh (1857-1931) published a book called The Secret History of the Oxford Movement in 1897. The book is examined in this video by Prof. Frances Knight, an expert on the religious history of…

One of the major developments in Christianity in recent years has been the growth of ecumenical approaches to liturgy. Here one of the leaders of those conversations in the English-speaking world,…

There are many definitions of theology and in this video Dr Simeon Zahl shared his view of what he does as a theologian and why he thinks it important. He sees himself as engaging in a formal manner…

Footwashing has been part of the ritual inheritance of Christians since at least the time John composed his gospel, but it has also been a much misunderstood and avoided ritual. Here Thomas…

Until very recently the standard model for assessing the place of religion in the Enlightenment was one of simple opposition: Religion represented the superstition and darkness that the rational…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines what is meant when theologians refer to ‘the analogy of being’ (analogia entis). Other videos that look at the same topic include; Why Study the…

All religions use time as a central element in the way they celebrate. They have a sacred year – a sequence of festivals arranged in an annual cycle. Most also have a sacred month or a sacred…

Dr Francisca Rumsey discusses the book know as the ‘maryrology’ with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin You can find other videos in the Sacred Calendars series here;…

Dr Doug Ingram and Dr Peter Watts look at one short and enigmatic biblical text: the Book of Ecclesiates – sometimes also called Qoheleth – and at the questions is poses not only to…

Dr Doug Ingram and Dr Peter Watts look at the value of studying that diverse library of books that go to make up the Old Testament. This has a value as an exploration of people quite apart from its…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines how the use of ‘X’ in everyday discourse is similar to the way that the word ‘god’ is used in Christian theology. Other videos in the…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines what is meant by the word ‘word’ and its complex uses in Christian theology Other videos in the A-Z of Theology series can be found here;…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines what is meant by the word ‘myth’ when used by theologians and he argues that myths are sets of symbols that are transparent for transfinite…

Prof. Philip Goodchild introduces the thought of Simone Weil (1909-1943) who has been described as a philosopher, a religious thinker, a mystic, and linked with any number of philosophers from…

Archbishop Kevin McDonald discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin how the Catholic Church sees the challenges facing ecumenism today: there has been real progress on many of the historic issues…

Archbishop Kevin McDonald discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin what the Catholic Church sees as the nature of ‘the church’ and how the notion of ‘the church’ relates to…

John Milbank and Simon Oliver discuss the significance of the work of Blessed Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) for the way we do theology today. Nicholas, in challenging the role of the Principle of…

Augustine was born in Roman North Africa in 354 and died as Bishop of Hippo, also in North Africa, in 430. He was one of the most prolific Christian writers of all time and all western Christian…

Anyone who has heard of the Marriage Feast at Cana (Gospel of John 2:1-11) has heard of ‘the six stone jars, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty…

Prof. Roland Deines explores the ways that the study of ancient Galilee, around the time of Jesus, can throw light on the historical Jesus and the origins of his movement as we hear of it in the…

Dr Conor Cunningham tells the story of the ways we can look at an apple. A piece of fruit, a quick healthy snack, but also the starting point for a more involved understanding of the universe and why…

Professors Alan Ford and Tom O’Loughlin look at the problems today – both for society and religion - that the legacy of older disputes between Catholics and Protestants throw up. They ask…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines the various meanings of the word ‘disciple’ in early Christian discourse. #a2zoftheology Other videos you may wish to watch include; Why Study...the…

Agata Bielik-Robson, Professor of Jewish Studies, looks at the notion of human finitude and offer a challenge to the views of Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) and his notion of ‘being towards…

Professor Alan Ford examines the origins of sectarianism in Ireland seeing it as an interesting example of how religions relate to identity and how that can easily mutate into extremist and…

Professor Tom O'Loughlin examines the various meanings of the word, 'apocrypha' in Christian discourse - and how it can never be used in a neutral sense.

Professor Tom O'Loughlin examines the various meanings of the word 'agrapha' in Christian discourse. Another video you want want to watch is; Why Study Jesus Christ with Roland Deines…

Professor Tom O'Loughlin discusses the various meanings of the word 'blessing' in Christian discourse. #a2zoftheology Other videos that may be of interest to you include: Why Study…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines the various meanings of the word ‘apostle’ in Christian discourse. #a2zoftheology

Professor Alan Ford discusses the origins of sectarianism in Ireland by linking it to the Reformation's self-understanding of being in an apocalyptic struggle with the Antichrist - understood as…

Agata Bielik-Robson, Professor of Jewish Studies, uses the term ‘philosophical Marranos’ of a group of moderns thinkers, such as Levinas and Derrida, whose common Judaism may be a key to…

Agata Bielik-Robson, Professor of Jewish Studies, looks at the tradition of speculation that can be traced by to Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-72) – and especially the notion of 'tsimtsum'…

Dr John McDade explores Friedrich Nietzsche’s (1844-1900) notion of a ‘ladder of cruelty’ within the development of religion. McDade argues that this is, in some way, a secular…

Professor Johannes Hoff – from Heythrop College in London – gave the 2013 Bonaventure lecture and proposed the case that modern theology needs to radically re-examine its assumptions…

In all human quests for understanding - be they religious, theological, philosophical, or literary - the intertwined themes of love and death keep returning to challenge us. It is an endless…

Dr John McDade looks at what is meant by the terms ‘Catholicism’ and ‘the Catholic Church’ – and argues that one should see Christianity as ‘Reconfigured…

Many people, whether they are Christians or not, think they know what the gospels contain, the kind of documents they are, and their purpose. This seminar argues that these are more complex questions…

Rogationtide is the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Thursday: it was, and to some extent still is, a time when God’s blessing was asked upon the springtime and the work in the…

Lammas – from ‘Loaf Mass’ – is the original harvest thanksgiving feast when the first loaf, baked from the newly harvested grain, was presented in the local church. Because it…

Most of the time of most humans for most of history has been spent obtaining and preparing food for our survival. So for theists, food is both the gift of God and the work of human hands, and each…

In a world where we think of work as being a Monday to Friday affair, where food comes from a shop, and where ‘work’ and ‘religion’ belong in separate compartments, a festival…

Dr Rob Lutton introduces an important aspect of contemporary historical studies: the study of religion as a force that shapes lives. Religion, like it or loathe it, has not disappeared from the human…

All the documents of Christianity - such as those that are found in the collection known as 'the New Testament' - were written in the common Koine Greek language of the Mediterranean world.…

Dr Dominic Erdozain argues that when one studies the words of Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) in the context of the religious life of seventeenth century Amsterdam and the people with whom he was in…

Dr. Peter Watts points out that embedded in many of the earliest Christian documents, such as the letters in the New Testament, there are pieces of poetry that were probably originally hymns sung by…

Dr. Peter Watts draws attention to the number of songs and hymns that can be found in the books of the Hebrew Bible. The most famous collection of these is the Book of Psalms, but there are many more…

The Firth Memorial Lectureship was founded by the Reverend John d'ewe Evelyn Firth in memory of his father, John Benjamin Firth, Historian of Nottingham and his mother Helena Gertrude Firth. The…

The Firth Memorial Lectureship was founded by the Reverend John d'ewe Evelyn Firth in memory of his father, John Benjamin Firth, Historian of Nottingham and his mother Helena Gertrude Firth. The…

Dr. Rob Lutton introduces the value to the historian of studying groups and individuals who were given the label of ‘heretics’ in the later middle ages. These groups point to diversity in…

Dr John McDade questions the nature of modern unbelief. He sees is as generated from within an approach to the question of God which grew up among Christian theologians in the early modern period. In…

Dr Peter Watts explores the range of approaches to the Bible that are encompassed in the term ‘biblical studies.’ He brings out that while the study of the Bible exists as part of…

Prof. Thomas O’Loughlin discusses the place of the meal – later, in the second century called ‘The Eucharist’ – among the early communities of Christians. There is an…

Dr David Monkton gives an insight into the key elements of Methodist spirituality which he sees as a direct legacy of John Wesley (1703-1791) and concludes that there is no holiness that it not…

Professor Roland Deines looks at four ancient coins – all of them nearly 2000 years old – and shows how they provide a window into the world of Galilee and Judea in the time of Jesus. In…